Guidance

On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme guidance for local authorities

Updated 12 September 2024

About the On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme

The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) supports local authorities in the UK to deliver electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for residents without off-street parking.

The scheme is now closed to new applications. Ongoing projects must be completed by March 2025.

Local authorities in England should also be aware of the funding and support available through the Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund.

Support for ongoing ORCS projects

Energy Saving Trust, Cenex and PA Consulting administer this scheme on our behalf.

The support body can provide free, impartial advice and guidance to local authorities throughout the implementation of projects.

To contact the support body, email [email protected].

Claiming for your completed projects

75% of the ORCS grant was paid upon approval of your application. The remaining 25% of your grant will be paid in arrears upon completion of the project. You can claim the remaining funding by contacting our support body, which will supply the appropriate guidance and grant claim form. Contact [email protected].

The grant claim form requires you to provide an itemised breakdown of capital costs, including invoices obtained from chargepoint operators, installers and the DNO, of:

1. Chargepoint hardware costs – this includes the cost of the chargepoint units and any associated hardware (such as guard rails or barriers).
2. Labour and installation costs – this includes the costs associated with installing the hardware and civil engineering.
3. Electrical connection costs and associated labour – this includes the DNO cost, the labour involved in installing an electrical connection and associated civil engineering work (such as trenching).

Following the decommissioning of the National Chargepoint Registry (NCR), you are no longer required to upload data on your chargepoints to the NCR.

If, for unexpected reasons, you do not spend your full grant amount, any unspent funds must be returned to the Department for Transport.

Costs eligible for funding

Capital funding will be provided for the installation of the chargepoints. The capital items that are eligible for claim are limited to:

• the purchase cost of the chargepoint up to 22 kW
• the purchase cost of electrical components related to the chargepoint, including distribution network operator (DNO) connection costs
• the cost of civil engineering works related to the installation
• labour costs of the installation
• hardware costs of the installation
• where applicable, the capital costs of a parking bay and traffic regulation orders (TROs) (paint and signage)

This scheme does not cover:

• non-capital costs
• the upgrade or maintenance of existing chargepoints
• the installation of passive charging infrastructure
• the installation of chargepoints for the primary use of taxi fleets or other commercial undertakings, given the residential focus of the scheme
• the installation of chargepoints connected to an individual’s domestic electricity supply

Changing chargepoint locations

To obtain permission for a chargepoint or chargepoints site change, you must submit to our support body as soon as possible:

• the new site location or locations
• parking details
• photographs
• maps
• evidence of demand
• the reason or reasons for the site change or changes

Site change requires our explicit approval for any grant funding to be paid to ensure the new location meets all of the relevant conditions of the grant.

Chargepoints installed in car parks

For installing chargepoints in public car parks:

• you must explain or show why they are not being installed in residential streets
• you must either own the car park, or have a long-term lease arrangement in place
• they should be accessible on a 24/7 basis
• each chargepoint must have its own dedicated EV bay enforced by a TRO
• you should consider how the chargepoints will be accessible and visible to local residents – this includes reviewing access arrangements, for example any ‘maximum stay’ times and overnight access

Meeting ongoing commitments

It is a condition of the funding that:

• any chargepoint must be maintained in a serviceable condition and accessible for 7 years from the date of installation
• usage data is made available to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) directly from the chargepoints or CPO systems – you must ensure that your delivery partners can supply this information

You must also ensure OZEV and our support body are kept informed of changes of lead staff.

For audit purposes, participating local authorities must retain the following for a period of 7 years:

• evidence that a chargepoint was appropriately procured
• a record of expenditure funded partly or wholly by the grant and all income generated by the project

You will make this information available at any reasonable time for inspection by officials from us or by the comptroller and Auditor General (or their representatives).

Usage data requirements

This section sets out chargepoint usage data requirements.

It is the responsibility of the local authority to ensure that a process is in place to deliver the required utilisation data in the correct format to OZEV and that their CPO is capable of doing so.

Data fields

Grant recipients are required to make appropriate arrangements with CPOs to collect and submit data on each charging event under each of the following data headings for all their grant-funded chargepoints:

• chargepoint ID
• plug in date and time
• unplug date and time
• charge start date and time
• charge end date and time
• total energy drawn (kWh)

The definition of each data field can be found in Data field definitions

We expect that all data points will be recorded at up to 95% accuracy. We will accept data supplied from units that record energy consumption at intervals of up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Data field definitions

Identifier for chargepoint

Unique identifier for chargepoint. This should match the chargepoint ID used on all forms and claim forms, and be consistent throughout the life of the chargepoint. It is recommended that this is the number associated with the chargepoint found on the NCR. If this is not possible, OZEV requires that a list of the chargepoints with corresponding NCR numbers is provided.

Plug in date and time (DD/MM/YYY) (00:00h)

The date and time that the vehicle was plugged in, in 24-hour clock format and using the UK (not US) date format, expressed to the nearest minute possible. OZEV will accept data supplied from units that record connection or disconnection at intervals of up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Unplug date and time (DD/MM/YYY) (00:00h)

The date and time that the vehicle was unplugged, in 24-hour clock format and using the UK (not US) date format, expressed to the nearest minute possible. OZEV will accept data supplied from units that record connection or disconnection at intervals of up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Charge start (DD/MM/YYY) (00:00h)

The date and time that the vehicle began to draw charge, in 24-hour clock format and using the UK (not US) date format, expressed to the nearest minute. OZEV will accept data supplied from units that record energy transfer at intervals of up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Charge end (DD/MM/YYY) (00:00h)

The date and time that the vehicle stopped drawing charge, in 24-hour clock format and using the UK (not US) date format, expressed to the nearest minute. OZEV will accept data supplied from units that record energy transfer at intervals of up to a maximum of 30 minutes.

Total energy drawn (0.00kWh)

The electrical energy transferred during the charging event, in kWh, rounded to 2 decimal places and with energy transferred from the charging point to the vehicle being positive and energy transferred from the vehicle to the charging point being negative. If this is not directly measurable and you wish to infer this from other parameters, please contact OZEV to discuss exactly how you propose to estimate the energy transferred.

Process of providing data

You must provide the data on a quarterly basis directly to OZEV by emailing [email protected]. For monitoring purposes, please also copy [email protected] into the email.

How to format your data

Data should be reported to OZEV in .csv format as exemplified in the Data reporting template.

To help OZEV log and collect the data efficiently:

• the subject header for emailed submissions must be in the following format: ‘YYMMDD – On-Street CP usage data – Chargepoint operator name – Local authority’
• the .csv file containing the data should be named using the following format: ‘YYMMDD – On-Street CP usage data – Chargepoint operator name – Local authority’
• all data should be consolidated within one tab of the spreadsheet and not across multiple tabs

OZEV expects local authorities to arrange for the data to be submitted in the required format automatically, without requiring a person to access and draw down the data. This is to ensure that the data is reliably received without prompting. CPOs should work with applicants to enable this.

When to submit data to OZEV

Submission should be provided on the following dates:

• 1 April – data submitted for January to March
• 1 July – data submitted for April to June
• 1 October – data submitted for July to September
• 1 January – data submitted for October to December

Data should be provided to OZEV for 3 years, starting on the date the chargepoint became operational.

In order for the usage data to be utilised, it is important that OZEV receives data in full on the relevant due dates. If the data is incomplete, OZEV is unable to identify trends, develop insights and evaluate policy.

Should data be incomplete, or fail to be submitted as per the schedule above, OZEV reserves the right to require repayment of funding from the grant recipient.

Data reporting template

You can download a specimen data reporting template from the GOV.UK homepage for this guidance.

Enquiries and contact

All questions should be sent to [email protected].